Emil’s brother came across an article by Dr. Keith Baar, a Professor of Molecular Exercise Physiology, titled “Minimizing Injury and Maximizing Return to Play: Lessons from Engineered Ligaments.” In the article, Dr. Baar explains that applying a minimal load to tendons every six hours significantly enhances their strength. Inspired by this concept, Emil’s brother developed the “No Hangs” finger strength training method, which involves hanging twice a day with very light loads to improve finger strength. After achieving remarkable results himself, Emil decided to try the method for 30 days—and experienced similarly impressive improvements.
Benefits
According to Emil and his brother
- Less finger injuries
- stronger fingers
The no hang method
- 2 times a day training on a hangboard.
- 40% load of max strength (own weight + added weight = 100%)
- 10 seconds on, 20 seconds rest
- 6 hangs 4 fingers
- 6 hangs 3 fingers
- 2 hangs front 2 fingers open grip
- 2 hangs middle 2 fingers open grip
- 2 hangs front 2 fingers half crimp grip
- 2 hangs middle 2 fingers half crimp grip
This protocol is so light you should be able to do it all day without fatigue.
Results from Emils first trial of 30 days
| type of hang | Before | After |
| 22 mm edge 1 hand | 0.5 seconds | 14 seconds |
| 14 mm weighted hang | + 48 kg | + 67 kg |
| 6 mm hang | 0 seconds | 8 seconds |
Results from people using the method using crimpd
After posting the results video, dr Keith Baar reached out to Emil with thanks for posting the video. And they conducted further research using the data of the crimpd app. See Article Effects of Different Loading Programs on Finger Strength in Rock Climbers for full article.
- Group using the no hangs method: +2.5% finger strength
- Group using just a MAX hangs training: +3.2% finger strength
- Group using a combination of MAX hangs + the no hangs method: +5.8% finger strength
Recommendations of Dr. Keith Baar
Now based on all this data Dr Baar recommends the following: If you are you a dynamic climber, than he would expect that the no hangs would have more effect. If you are a static climber already hanging longer times from your fingers, than max hangs would probably be more beneficial. But he expects to see the best results combining both. But be aware this is not a magic trick, every situation is unique, so take into account your own context.
Sources
First video of 10 minutes low intensity hangs
Video results of 2 years of low intensity hangs
Video with explanation of Dr Keith Baar
Crimpd app
Article Effects of Different Loading Programs on Finger Strength in Rock Climbers
Minimizing Injury and Maximizing Return to Play: Lessons from Engineered Ligaments – PubMed
Review of the no hang protocol by Hooper’s Beta
Video of Hannah interviewing emil
The struggle climbing show interviews Emil and dr Keith Baar